The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1887-03-03
THRIFTY MARY SHAW.

HE@&&5MR&N E@4If%Ef
She Got Along Nicely OF Her Dakota
aas5Farm-Why She Left 1t and Her
Numerous Admirers.
Some time ago. writes a Jamestown,
dakota, correspondent Of The NeW York
Sun, there arrived in this city a young
woman who gave her name as Mary
Shaw, wEo said that she had come here
tor the purpose Of taking up some land.
She had several hundred dollars, and
though 1t was thought strange that she
would want to embark ON the hard life
of a Dakota farmer in the fall of the
year, it was admitted that she was a
woman of pluck, and that, as she had
some means, she would probably sue
coed. As it happened, a man who had
taken up land a few miles south of
here wanted to sell, and with him Mary
Shaw made a bargain, taking his farm
and house as it stood and moving in
with the determination of living there
all winter. In the course of time some
Of the men hereabouts who are matri-
monially inclined began to notice
Mary's thrift and industry, and, as she
was companionable, she never lacked
for admirers, young and old, all Jared
about the m Such as mustered up
courage enough to pop the question
were put off with a joking answer, and
all who undertook to find out just who
she was Jared even more .unsatisfacto-
rily. She had no confidants of either
sex, and as winter came on she kept
things shipshape and said nothing as
to her antecedents.
It has since been learned that Shaw
is not her name. She was a runaway
wife when she came here, and her home
has been in Wyoming. where her hus-
band was q well-to-do cattle grower.
One day in the early autumn she raj
rummaging through his coat-pockets
for something, and discovered a letter
there from a woman whom she thought
she had resson to be jealous of. Her
husband was then off on his ranch, and
would not be back for several weeks.
Her mind was made up in asminute.
Born and raised in the far west, she
was possessed of an independent spirit
and a courage which many a man
might envy. The house in which she
lived was in her own name, and finding
a purchaser she sold it as it stood, wrote
a letter to her husband that he would
never see her again, and left for parts
unknown. After a brief stay in Lin
,coln, Neb., she went to Chicago, where
she spent a week or two, and from that
city she came directly here. She had read
of women who had come into Dakota
and made successful efforts at farming,
and she had resolved to try the expert
ment, thinking that here she would find
"a livelihood as we'll as freedom from
search by her husband.
The mystery which seemed to r
round her only made the interest of the
Jim River beaux the greater, and ifshe
sense and :tolerably diplomatic in her
way she might have been annoyed be-
You'd easur by them. As it was she
took all the attention paid her in good
part, and the chivalry of the valley
voted her the handsomest wona in
the territory. Two week ago a tall
and fine appearing man arrived here
and, without stating his mission, began
IN inspection of all the farms lying
within ten miles of town. He seems to
have found what he was looking for at
Mary Shaw's house, for, after calling
there one day, he returned to town and
did not leave his hotel again except as
he journeyed once a day to her place in
the country. It has now leaked out
that the stranger is the woman's hus.
band, and that he has made an expla=
nation of the presence and the contentg
Of the letter which is highly satisfac-
tory to his wife.
The letter was written to him by the
woman in question, as it appeared to
have been, but it was never answered,
and there had been nothing in his CON
duct which warranted such familiarity
on her part. It had been his intention
to show his wife the missive, but, in
the hurry of preparing for his extend
ed trip over his ranch he had forgotten
it. Feeling that his wife had done
herself and him m injustice, he had
spared no pains in tracing her out. At
first he found the search a most diff
cult one, but in Chicago he had got a
clew and had followed it successfully.
After the reconciliation it became a
question what would be done with the
farm here. The young woman wanted
to keep it, and her husband. finding
that there was a mortgage on it, clear
ed thatSup and leased it before leaving
for the west.
The last evening that the couple
spent in the little farmhouse it so hap
pened that twoof Mary Shaw's regular
admirers called, just to see if there
was anything they could do for her.
They were received with the customa-
ny grace, and, after a little. were in
troduced to her husband, who greeted
them cordially, and said he guessed he
would have to take her home, where
the work was easier. One of the CALL
ers, an old fellow, was SO overcome
with amazement and chagrin that he
became almost speechless, though he
finally found words to say that he con-
graduated the gentleman on having so
lovely a wife. He had supposed that
she was single, and if she had been he
was free to admit that he would have
stood. on his head in a blizzard for
it%wenty-four hours if by that means he
could have Won her. The other. was a
Young mar and his only remark ne ha